Mrs. Robinson

*The title of this post was taken from the Simon & Garfunkel song of the same name*

When Casey Robinson and I first connected, it was a phone call with her inquiring about my services. We have some mutual friends who were clients at the time and Casey thought I might be the right fit for her needs.

Even in that call there were several things I picked up on. I could sense a fair amount of self-doubt, apprehension, concern over whether or not she would feel comfortable exercising here, etc.

And while Casey has been with us for a little over a year, we’ve watched little bits of progress move her across the spectrum.

She lost some weight initially, plateaued and then was in something of a holding pattern for several months. Along the way, she was gathering little bits of information and strategies from all of the videos I post in our Facebook closed community and from many of the articles I’ve written.

From time to time, she would ask specifically about certain strategies and methodologies and go back to the drawing board piecing together things she felt would work best for her.

And then a shift happened.

We reconvened on her goals and where she wanted to put her focus. She wanted to spend time working on a heavier traplift and start putting some different dietary philosophies to work.

Next thing you know, her strength is coming up and her body weight is coming down.

The fact that she is getting stronger is not a big surprise.

Truth be told, neither is the fact that she broke past her weight loss plateau.

The real magic behind the shift in Casey’s results has come from her changed mindset.

“What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?”

I asked her: What’s been working?

Her response: I track every single thing I eat. I was tracking before but I wouldn’t track something if it wasn’t a full serving size. I also wouldn’t always track alcohol. Now, I track it all. If it goes in my mouth and it has a calorie, I track it.

I even give myself room to splurge a little on the weekends. Sometimes I’ll be going through a week and remind myself “Oh, I get to have that (insert food reward here) on Saturday so I can wait until then.” Many times, I’ll get to the weekend and even though I have enough calories left in my day to have the treat, sometimes I just choose not to.

(And this is the best part)

“It’s not that I can’t have that [food], it’s that I choose not to.”

For Casey, fine-tuning her diet mentality to what fits and what doesn’t has given her an improved understanding of where she can be flexible and where not to.

Having watched Casey inch further along the spectrum from where she started to where she will eventually be has been just as much of an education for me as it has likely been for her.

But it seems to me, that she has the toughest part conquered now: her mind.